Magick
Introduction IRL * Sicariths and Nokiariths could be compared to Harry Potter's wizards and muggles and Mortal Instruments' mundanes and non-mundanes since I know those are concepts many of us can understand and can compare to. If you can't, then you are a sad sack of sadness. * It's weird because in all other universes it's the non-magick people being superior, whereas the magick people aren't. I loved the fact that I turned that trope on its head. With all the scenarios I'm imagining, it'll probably make people realize practical things are pretty cool after all. * Realistically and from a scientific perspective, magick could exist due to a common ancestor that evolved the ability to harness a second form of energy, or no energy at all, that allows them to manipulate atoms. These atoms would somehow be triggered by the neurological system of that being or by a chemical that the being can release to bend the atoms to their will. Although we find the idea of powers to be spectacular, it'd be annulled by the fact that it has no value to survivability and would never evolve because such chemicals don't exist. Not to mention how complex this system would require to be. And no, I'm not overthinking it. It's just an interesting concept to toy with. * Teleporting is a paradox, as no one object can exist partially or wholly in two places at once. The atoms would also potentially be scrambled, as they need to be in an immaculately specific order and place. By having teleporters open rifts into the astral plane, they're not atomizing themselves. So it's more like boarding a ghost plane...airplane... In Baolynn Sicariths are races born with meargens; small organs attached to the heart able to produce mana, a magick form of energy, and pump it into the bloodstream. Hence why Sicarith blood is said to glitter. Like how you'll get tired after running, you'll be low on mana after using spells or anything else that requires mana. If you completely drain of mana, your meargen will actually use your blood to keep itself alive. Spells that downright use your blood are considered hematomancy; blood magick. Sicariths like umbraeths or saccitors, are born with their abilities embedded in their meargen like a biological grimoire (see Items). If you take it, you can harness the same abilities. Lots of saccitors are known to be poached for this very reason. Nokiariths are races born without meargens. To use spells or other magickal items, they have to use mediators (see Spells & Runes). Culture In general, Sicariths are seen as naturally superior to Nokiariths, like abled people versus disabled people. It's sad, but it's how it is. This imbalance is so significant that Nokiarith children get bullied for not being magick, which is where terms like 'wizard' and 'magician' (see Classes/Terms/Titles) come into play. All schools require you to take a basic class for petramancy, vetamancy, ignamancy, and aquamancy regardless of your Sicarith or Nokiarith status. A basic understanding weeds out fear and mistrust. As they're taught in the second tier of schooling, they're required for more advanced classes. This helps students find what house suits them best. You may like fire magick, but you may find air magick to come more naturally to you. It's common for people to master one element, while knowing one or two more. Mastering more than one element is edging on archmage (see Classes/Terms/Titles) status. Classes/Terms/Titles More detailed versions of the five classes are here. Elemental Houses Formal training allows you to control the air above you, shake the earth below you, bend the water around you, and to tame and guide the fire and spirit within you. -Introduction To Magick, page 1 There's six houses of magick: terramancy, zephyrmancy, pyromancy, hydromancy, pneumamancy (new-ma-man-see), and amalgamancy (uh-maul-guh-man-see). Earth, air, fire, water, spirit, and hybrid, respectively. The Virias is a symbol representative of magick. It's a purple dreamcatcher (see Items) with black and white stripes and beads of varying sizes to represent the houses. While there are a large range of sub-houses, they're still considered their main house. For example, a botamancer is still considered a terramancer. Items imbued with a certain element are referred to as being ensorcelled, as enchantment is associated with conjuring (see Classes/Terms/Titles). Although no magick is inherently good nor bad, magick commonly used for positive intentions is aliased light, white, and right hand magick. Dark, black, and left hand magick being for negative intended magick. Terramancy (7) Elements related to earth and the ground. Represented by green and a gnome. The masculine form of terramancer is druid, while the feminine form is druidess. *'Plants/Botamancy' (bot-uh-man-sea): Botamancers can speed up the growth of living plants, coax plants out of the ground to fight for them, and can destroy flora. *'Origami/Atrachimancy' (ah-trah-chih-man-see): Atrachimancers can control materials made of dead plant matter. Atrachimancy is most commonly used to control paper for origami, the art of paper folding. It's more of a recreational magick than a battle ready one. *'Metal/Quamumancy' (quah-muh-man-sea): Quamumancers can bend metal, rip armor off of their opponents, and create intricate creations for decoration or for battle mates. *'Neon/Chenomancy' (kee-no-man-sea): Chenomancers can suck the color out of objects, create beautiful artistry, and can use their magick color to form companions or even hoverboards. I see this element being popular with artists. *'Rocks/Petramancy' (peh-truh-man-sea): Petramancers can rip stone from the ground, bend it to their will, create golems from clay within an instant, and can create stone armor upon themselves. *'Acid/Diruemancy' (die-rue-man-sea): Diruemancers can erode objects, rust metal, blast their foes with green flesh-melting liquid, and drain water of acidity. *'Sand/Harenmancy' (hair-en-man-sea): Harenmancers can control glass, sandstone, and any other objects made of sand. Zephyrmancy (4) Elements related to the air and the sky. Represented by yellow and a faerie. The masculine form of zephyrmancer is caelad, while the feminine form is caelass. *'Electricity/Trydamancy' (try-duh-man-sea): Trydamancers can be shocking, once you first meet them. They can disrupt the balance of atoms to cause electricity. In more modern times, they can drain power and tamper with electronics. *'Wind/Ventamancy' (ven-tuh-man-sea): Ventamancers can bend the air to be moving or still, blow objects with powerful blasts, create tornadoes, and can suck the oxygen out of your lungs. *'Sound/Ichomancy' (eye-ko-man-sea): Ichomancers can play tunes without instruments, put songs into people's heads to distract, calm, or tamper. They can also use their power to send Morse Code-like signals to one another. I see this element being popular with musicians. *'Smoke/Fumamancy '(foo-mah-man-sea): Fumamancers can manipulate gases, like smoke and ash. Pyromancy (3) Elements relating to fire and heat. Represented by red and a salamander. The masculine form of pyromancer is arder, while the feminine form is arderess. *'Lava & magma/Tigmenomancy' (tig-men-oh-man-sea): Tigmenomancers can call forth lava and can create golems that appear to melt like hot wax. It's a general rule of thumb not to call forth anything unless you're in Valaru. *'Blaze/Ignamancy' (ig-nuh-man-sea): Ignamancers can create fire within their own hands, surround themselves within a fiery bubble, and use their own breath to burn things like a fire dragon. *'Light/Solamancy' (so-luh-man-see): Aliased sundancing, mages of this element are nicknamed sundancers. Solamancers can manipulate light to their will to create beings of light, flashing it in the eyes of their enemies, using it as a highlighter, and even fill rooms full of light. Hydromancy (5) Elements related to water and coldness. Represented by blue and a mer. The masculine form of hydromancer is murhdon, while the feminine form is murhdonna. *'Water/Aquamancy' (ah-quah-man-sea): Aquamancers can use water to their advantage, creating clouds, precipitation, condensation, tsunamis, bubbles, evaporate water, and can move water to create air pockets when underwater. *'Ice/Glacimancy' (glay-sia-man-sea): Glaciamancers can freeze water, cast enemies in a frosty prison, blast areas with slippery goodness, and can use their power like a hoverboard. *'Blood/Hematomancy' (he-muh-toe-man-sea): Considered a forbidden element in early eras, hematomancers control the water inside of your body, draining and coagulating your blood. Healers in the modern era are the only ones to know hematomancy for blood transfusions and to stop bleeding. *'Shadow/Skiamancy' (skee-uh-man-sea): Aliased shadowdancing, mages of this element are nicknamed shadowdancers. Skiamancers can manipulate shadows to their will, fill a room full of darkness, and create beings of shadow. *'Ink/Mentomancy' (men-toe-man-sea): Mentomancers can control ink and is popular among writers. Pneumamancy (5) Elements related to the astral plane and elements unable to be categorized into any other house. Represented by purple and a nephalem The masculine form for a light pneumamancer is warlock, while the feminine form is witch. The masculine form for a dark pneumamancer is sorcerer, while the feminine form is sorceress. If you're both light and dark, you don't specify. *'Telepathy/Loqimancy' (lo-quee-man-sea): Loqimancers can plant images, messages, and sounds into others' minds, can feed someone else's thoughts into their own mind without interfering the other person, can block their own mind from others, and have psychological power over others. Loqimancy is common among animal lovers that can speak Beslik, as fauna minds are weak, making them easy to control. *'Space/Stellamancy' (stell-uh-man-sea): Space, asteroids, stars, yeah, that sort of magick. Stellamancers can can see the stars without a telescope, control planets, cause eclipses, make accurate predictions about planetary alignment, can control gravity, and magnetic fields. **Corrupt astral magick is exceptionally dangerous and is most often referred to as void. When in a physical form, it's described to have a vantablack color with the properties of all states. It's oobleck made of plasma that omits a toxic dark purple gas. Because of this, it's highly suggested to not touch or breathe it in. The only known beings to be made of this wretched substance are Voidwights. *'Time/Chronomancy' (kro-no-man-sea) Chronomancers can change the time of day, know what time it is exactly without a clock, and can see the past and future of a specific area without being able to affect it. *'Death/Necromancy' (neh-kro-man-sea): Necromancers can manipulate dead fauna matter like entire corpses regardless of degradation, wax, oil, etc. They can also control souls and spirits. Specifically, they can take/give souls/spirits from/to bodies. *'Astral/Tixulfmancy '(ticks-ulf-man-sea): Tixulfmancers can teleport between the astral plane and the physical plane by creating temporary rifts, much like what umbraeths can instinctively do. They can also open and close these rifts for much longer, sometimes permanently; although doing so will allow things on the other side to come through. Amalgamancy (3) Elements that are combinations of others. Some mages gravitate towards calling themselves amalgamancers due to their use of multiple houses and a lack of a fondness for any particular one. Represented by orange and a chimera. The masculine form of amalgamancer is yivrid, while the feminine form is yvridette. Amalgamancy is not an officially recognized house by many magick schools because of its rarity and complexity, though some do teach classes for it. * Storms/Tempestmancy (tem-pest-man-sea): Tempestmancers have to first master aquamancy, trydamancy, and ventamancy. * Electronics/Nerismancy (nair-is-man-sea): Nerismancers have to first master trydamancy and quamumancy. * Plague/Fetomormancy (feh-toe-moor-man-sea): Fetormormancers have to first master hematomancy, necromancy, and diruemancy. They can create deteriorated zombies from living people, spread illness, and can physically control people using their blood. Hedge Hedge magick is not any form of house or element, but its own form of magick. Hedge mages commonly don't have formal training and as such, tend to be self-taught. These mages are special in the fact that they develop their own magick unique to the individual. Magick governments fear hedge mages because they have higher chances to become corrupt, along with their magick. Spells And Runes How Spells Work Spells may be casted from the user in the present, while runes are spells preset into an object for future use, like scrolls, stones, or even one's own body. Drawing runes into objects can be done with any ink, but non-magick inks need to be activated first. Mixing pixie dust (see Alchemy & Crafting, fauna) into the ink relinquishes the need to be activated and will keep the spell active until the ink fades too badly. This type of ink is affectionately named pixink and faepen. On your own body, runes creates contracture scars after they've been used, regardless of the rune's element type. Runes can be triggered like a trap or they can be triggered by hand using the activation spell. There are three types of ways to cast; by hand like sign language, by word, or by drawings. * Drawing spells are ideal for runes and visual learners. * Hand spells are easy for quick situations because of muscle memory and are ideal for physical/kinesthetic learners. * Word spells are more common among archmages because saying them in your head keeps them discreet and are ideal for audio learners. Because of this, some Nokiariths believe that archmages can kill you with just a glare. Mediators Nokiariths need mediators to be able to cast magick, as long as it's within their touch of course. Your skin can adsorb the mediating object's mana and allow you to cast like a Sicarith could. Mediators for Sicariths are optional, but are highly suggested, as the mediator extends how much mana you can consume at once, like a large magazine on a gun. It also improves your precision, if you're not an experienced mage. Types of mediators include: * Raw or refined gems and crystals (Commonly put into weapons/tools and worn as jewelry) * Jewelry * Staves * Wands (Most common) * Weapons * Tools * Masks (Research masks around the world. It's amazing.) * Fetishes (Voodoo) List Of Spells There's three different tiers of magick; tier one is weak, tier two is average, and tier three is strong. They're abbreviated as T1, for example. This is the minimum requirement needed to cast that spell, as magick strength relates to how long you can cast the spell for and how much mana it takes. * Spells with their names crossed out are forbidden by law. * Spells that take control of others are referred to as charms. * Spells that cause negative effects are referred to as curses. "Hex" is the Noktabian word for six. T1 * Avizo (ah-vee-zoah): Shrink * Claudek (claw-deck): Un/locks doors, windows, chests, padlocks, lockers, etc. * Defeirm (deh-fae-rm): Used to protect objects from being casted on. For example, if someone kept being pranked by having their books randomly levitate, they'd cast this spell on the books to prevent further pranking. * Kalaigen (kuh-lie-gen): Growth. Can be used to grow plants faster or in some cases, even body parts. * Muicla (mew-ihs-luh): A tracker. For example, if you place this spell upon a horse, then on a map with a mental image of that horse, you can visually know where that horse is in real time. * Psydevitas (sigh-dev-ih-tas): Illusion spell commonly used by conjurists. The stronger the mage, the better and more complex the illusion may be. * Rufeirm (rue-fae-rm): Used to remove protected objects to be able to be casted on again. Only the person that casted defeirm in the first place can use rufeirm. * Shakateb (shah-kuh-tehb): Levitation and the ability to move objects. From a Gaian perspective, it could be considered psychokinesis. * Tarecolo (tear-ey-coah-low): Changes the color of the target. * '-Tirost' (tier-ost): Elemental spell blast. For the spoken spell, you add the prefix of what element you wish to use. For example, diruetirost is an acid blasting spell. * Tukdurat (tuck-durr-at): Timer. It's a spell that's casted onto targets to add a custom timer to the next spell casted on it. For example, if you used this spell on your hair, then tarecolo, your hair would only be a different color for a certain amount of time before returning to its previous color. * Umkusro (um-kuss-row): A defensive barrier that blocks whatever the caster desires. The size and strength vary on levels. Lesser levels are used as umbrellas. T2 * Atteivo (uh-tay-voe): It enlarges your iris and pupil to allow for night vision, but makes you hyperopic, meaning nearby objects are blurry. * Ayagapi (ay-uh-gah-pee): Controls the emotions of another being; commonly called the love spell since that's what it's used for the most. * Bendevor (ben-deh-vor): It creates a bubble of oxygen around your head. * Bositare (boss-ih-tear): Transmutation; changing one object into another. * Hydrodevor (high-drow-deh-vor): It creates a bubble of water on your gills. * Inurae (in-er-ae): Used to stop motion safely, like if someone fell from the top of a building, this spell would slow them down since complete, immediate stops are dangerous. It also help to avoid vertigo. * O'kalau (o-kuh-lao): Reveals invisible objects, hidden rune traps, and shapeshifters' true forms. * Theargé (thee-er-gay): Activation spell used to trigger runes. * Veinequo (vein-ay-quo): It takes raw materials and conducts them. For example, an aquamancer could bend a puddle of water to their will without using any mana. T3 * Fylokato (figh-lo-kato): Genderbend is an easier and more used name than biological-sex-bend, as the latter is more accurate. For those unaware as to what that is; if you're female and you use this spell, you'd end up with a masculine body. It doesn't work on neutrois people. * Meozhemere (mayo-zhay-mere): Used to summon your totem to protect you. It's more effective when you have a good relationship with your totem. * Ollaotsaneo (o-lao-saneo): Shapeshift activation. * Pericorul (per-ih-cor-rull): Invisibility. You're still touchable and have weight. * Periconapa '''(per-ih-con-ah-puh): It makes the target invisible, untouchable, and weightless, like a ghost. Commonly used by blackclaws on their wings so they appear gone to improve mobility and reduce the amount of space that they take up in close quarters, but they also can't fly. * '''Pupatachu (pup-a-tah-chu): Allows for complete physical control over another being. List Of Rituals *'Lirask '(leer-ask): You capture a spirit in a specter, then conjoin the spirit with the person desiring it. Once this ritual is complete, you use o''llaotsaneo'' to shift into the spirit. For example, if you conjoined with a cat spirit, then the activation spell would turn you into a cat. Alchemy & Crafting If you've ever played any fantasy game ever, this shouldn't be a new concept to you. Alchemy is, in its finest, the medieval forerunner to chemistry and medicines. You mix ingredients together to make salves, potions, and the like. Rarity Levels * Common (white) * Uncommon (green) * Epic (blue) * Rare (purple) * Legendary (orange) Types * Potion: Unspecific liquid item * Salve: Rubbable cream * Medicine: Healing item; shortened to med * Liquor: Drinkable item that causes psychological change in the body * Steroid: Enhancing item * Drug: Consumable item that causes psychological change in body * Grenade: Throwable, damage-causing item * Toxin: Consumable/touchable, damage-causing item. Essentially, if it bites you, it's venom. If you bite it, it's poison. Ingredients Flora * Everfyre tree: They look like joshua trees, but have waxy fire resistant evergreen needles. They grow incendiary cones. * Eukiha tree: With eucalyptus-like pink leaves, these trees are useful for minor healing. * Cherrybomb tree: Wide, rough cherry red leaves and bark like a cherry blossom, they grow sweet, combustible fruit. * Crimrose flower: Black roses with heart shaped petals that "bleed" their nectar when they bloom and wilt. * Ligbiscus flower: Hibiscus-like flowers native to Venium, Czemalia with three lightning bolt pistils that zap low volts as a defense mechanism. * Widow berry bush: Dark purple bushes that grow poisonous berries with the appearance of a widow spider's abdomen. * Glowing shrooms: Bioluminescent mushrooms. * Mandragora root: * Lavender: * Marigolds: * Poppy seeds: * Fire orchid flower: Fauna * Pixie dust: Ground up pixie wings. * Alicorn: Mana imbued keratin; unicorn horns and cerapter horns are made of this. * Dog tongue: * Frog toe: * Bat hair: * Vampiric ash: * Jackalope foot: * Cockatrice venom and claws: * Honey: * Firefly thorax: * Phoenix feathers and tears: The feathers are useful for eternal fires, while the tears have major healing properties. * Blackclaw eye: * Chamegar eggs: * Whitewing hair: * Kappa shell shards: * Umbraeth saliva: * Salamander tail: * Draconian bone meal: * Wolf hearts: * Scarab wings: * Siren scales: * Hellhound blood: Mineral * Kessate: Like how other organs will dry out when exposed to oxygen for too long, meargens crystallize and can be cut into a usable mineral called kessate. Kessate is commonly paired with specters (see spiritual) to make vessels. They're simply called kessate vessels, but is abbreviated to k.v. Kessate itself may be used as a mediator. * Charcoal: * Embershards: Spiritual * Ghost powder: Its main use is spirit ripping. You use too much and you turn yourself into a zombie. You use just enough and you can move your spirit into another vessel. It also makes a good incense. * Specter: Calling them spiritual faerie bubbles or jars is pretty accurate. Because souls dwell in the astral plane, but because we can only see them in the physical realm, they're unobtainable. If you sync a glass jar, a crystal, or another physical container with a specter, you can create a vessel that is physical and spiritual. ''These vessels may be used to collect souls and spirits for shapeshifting purposes. Other Abilities Totems IRL Native American culture, everything is connected. Everyone and everything is linked between each other. Thus, people are connected to animals, to the earth, and to the sky. In Pagan religions and systems, a spirit animal, also known as a totem, is meant to be a representation of the traits and skills that you are supposed to learn or have always possessed. I'd also like to address this. In Baolynn, a totem is someone's spirit animal and spirit color, in simple terms. Totems are the spiritual embodiment of someone and mean everything. They represent what you are, what you were, or more often than not, what you'll become. You discover your totem when you discover yourself or come to a self revelation. They do not change. Some may discover their totem when they're thirteen, others at thirty-three. It's all down to you. Totems are represented by wooden effigies, usually on necklaces or small statues. The animals themselves appear as wispy, spiritual beings in a certain color. For example, Goatshanker's totem is a bright red bison. Familiars IRL, an animal familiar is a concept we're all accustomed to when speaking of witches. They're little black cats, warty toads, dirty rats, you know how it is. Some say they're demons, others say they're just animals. In Baolynn, a familiar is an animal with a small piece of your spirit, as you have a small piece of theirs. They're an extension of yourself and your closest friend. Some familiars are used as questers, turning them into spies, scavengers, messengers, whatever their master requires. The familiar can be any animal, though small, domestic beasts like cats, dogs, owls, toads, rats, snakes, etc are the most common. Ethereal Sight Any gamer would recognize this as Eagle Vision and any of its iterations, but being observant and slick as I have been, I've created my own highly nerfed and specific version for legitimate reasons. Ethereal Sight is an ability exclusive to divine meargens, though it's rare for the ability to pass onto their demigod children. It allows the user to see the astral plane for a short amount of time without actually being in it. "I see dead people" fits this ability perfectly. Evocation And Invocation An evocation ritual is the act of summoning an entity of any description, and the entity appears outside of the conjurer's body. Invocation is the opposite. An invocation ritual is where you summon an entity and the entity appears inside the conjurer's body, using them like a puppet to communicate. Most of the time, the conjurer is still fully conscious. When the entity has taken complete control, the conjurist is referred to as being enchanted. That must suck though. Just imagine being an archdemon in the middle of dinner and you just suddenly poof into the middle of the forest to find some dweebish mage. You sigh with a groan because you're used to it. In hindsight, it wouldn't be all that funny, but to us, it certainly is. Conjurists are also able to summon illusions. OBE An out-of-body experience is one where your physical body is slipped into a coma-like state before safely ejecting your spirit while your physical body is still alive. There are two ways to do this; astrally and etherically. Both ways keep the spirit connected to the physical body via the Silver Cord and any harm done to your spirit ''will affect your real body, though not immediately. Astral projection teleports your spirit to the astral plane, while etheric projection just separates your spirit from your body, keeping you in the physical plane. Glamors Associated with loqimancy (see Elemental Houses, Pneumamancy), a glamor is a spell you cast on yourself so that all around you will see what you want them to. A glamor is much cheaper than actually shifting, as shifting requires a specter and the soul (see Alchemy & Crafting for both) of the being you wish to turn into. It's commonly used by blackclaws and the like. Items Ambrosia A drink of the gods, ambrosia tastes like raspberry and red wine. It extends the lifespan of the drinker by one year per gulp. The true recipe is hidden among Fio'nagara's cookbook, although mana, Grimoires IRL, grimoires (grim-mwahs; it's French) are textbooks supposedly for magick purposes. They're made from various materials. The most notable grimoire, though fictional, is the Necronomicon. It appears in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and his followers. In Baolynn, grimoires are magick textbooks used to instruct the reader how to cast certain spells or how to create certain potions. You can draw and write within the book without being able to activate any runes for safety purposes. Amulets IRL, amulets have been used as protective items for thousands of years. Early people lived in a world where strange and frightening things occurred that defied explanation at the time. Consequently, amulets were used to protect homes, families, and livestock. Amulets were originally natural items, such as an animal’s tooth or a semi-precious stone. However, you can choose anything like medals, knots, bells, keys, etc. Many police officers in early twentieth-century New York carried St. Jude medals with them for protection, as that's the patron saint of policemen. In Baolynn, amulets are used as protective items, guarding against negative spirits and spells. Items like animal teeth, gems/rocks/crystals, bells, keys, jewelry, etc are all common amulets. Talismans IRL, talismans are believed to be spiritually/astrologically significant due to the fact they're intended to provide power, energy, and specific benefits. They're frequently made from stone, metal, or parchment as they can be inscribed with words or pictures to add additional power. Many talismans come from predatory animals because they're believed to endow the wearer with some of the qualities of the animal from which it came. In Baolynn, talismans are items with runes for long term use to provide specific benefits like fortune, strength, courage, speed, etc. Jewelry is commonly used, though shoes, accessories, bells, etc are also used. Dreamcatchers IRL, Dreamcatchers are often believed to have originated from the Ojibwa Chippewa Native American tribe. The Ojibwe word for dreamcatcher is asabikeshiinh (spider) in reference to the web loosely woven to cover the hoop. Ojibwe dreamcatchers were traditionally used as talismans to protect sleeping people, usually children, from bad dreams and nightmares. Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams, both good and bad. When hung above the bed in a place where the morning sunlight can hit it, the dream catcher attracts and catches all sorts of dreams and thoughts into its webs. Good dreams pass through and gently slide down the feathers to comfort the sleeper below. Bad dreams, however, are caught up in its protective net and destroyed, burned up in daylight. In Baolynn, they're used in various cultures to ward away bad dreams and to gather good dreams. Infinity Bags Infinity bags would be considered hammerspace. They're usually cloth pouches, satchels, purses, etc. able to stretch quite widely to fit larger items within. It's common for boob owners to set their infinity portal to be between their boobs, so they can pull swords and stuff from it. It's actually quite entertaining. They work because they're connected to vaults in the astral plane. They're actually not infinite, but if your vault is large enough, they may just be. Psychaspheres IRL, the name originates from psychic and sphere. It's a more interesting name for a crystal ball. A psychasphere allows you to speak with the dead, see your cotiga, and is most commonly used in scrying. The knowledge to create such an object has been lost in the sands of time. Materials such as crystal, kessate (see Alchemy & Crafting, ingredients, minerals), water, and glass have all been known in the making of a psychasphere. Mana Guns Firearms specially crafted to handle mana imbued cartridges, simply called mana guns or glowshots, were common among the upper classes in Nokiarith societies during early eras. They were relatively expensive to use and make, but were extremely effective, especially since you could shoot different spells from different round types very quickly without any magickal knowledge. They weren't replaced with metal shooting guns until the Corsairean Era, which were much more effective to make, buy, and use. As noted by their glowshot alias, they do in fact partially glow. Tarot Cards These greater cards symbolize the mind. These lesser cards symbolize the hand. All thoughts and actions tend to be up to interpretation. IRL The word tarot is the French derivative of Italian tarrochi. Regardless of whether you pronounce it tear-ott or tear-oh, these cards are used for revealing events within the world. There are two types of tarot: major arcana and minor arcana. Arcana in of itself is the plural of arcanum. Unconscious projections are one reason why so many find value in tarot. Their pictures and patterns effectively tap into your head, creating a personal aspect of tarot. The cards themselves also contain a collective component because as mortals, we all have common needs and experiences. The cards' images capture these shared moments, making for consistent ways to lead them out into the open. Most mortals react to the cards in similar fashions, as they represent archetypes. Over time, tarot has evolved into the most basic patterns of mortal thoughts and emotions. *I've changed some major arcana to fit within Baolynnian lore. Mage was magician, oracle was high priestess, deity was heirophant, roulette was wheel of fortune, hangman was hanged man, and demon was devil. *Major arcana are aliased trump cards and greater arcana. *Minor arcana are aliased suit cards and lesser arcana. *The wand suit is aliased as batons, clubs, and staves. *The pentacle suit is aliased as coins, disks, and rings. *The cup suit is aliased as chalices. *The four suits: wands, cups, swords, and pentacles are of Italio-Spanish origins. The hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds are French. *I consider major arcana to be internal events, while others view it as universal events, feelings we all share. Likewise with minor arcana and external events. Major Arcana The twenty-two major arcana delegates internal events; the collective conscious of mortals. They're all numbered from zero to twenty-one to represent levels of enlightenment, so to speak. Everyone's journey of self-discovery finds their mental tarot to be in a different order. Minor Arcana The fifty-six minor arcana delegates external events; daily life and the details of the major arcana to it. Those fifty-six cards are divided into four suits with courts and numbers. Suits *Wands represent fire, making them the suit of creativity, action, and passion. They're associated with enthusiasm, adventure, risk-taking, and confidence. *Cups represent water, making them the suit of emotions, spirituality, and adaptability. They're associated with relationships and inner states. *Swords represent air, making them the suit of intellect, thought, and reasoning. They're associated with justice, truth, morality, and ethicality, but disharmony and unhappiness as well. *Pentacles represents earth, making them the suit of practicality, safety, and material concerns. They're associated with prosperity, wealth, and beauty. Courts * .